Part Four
 

Being buried alive was bad, but nothing to the shock that came next.  Four
days after his emergence back into life, and there were still no signs of
Tracy or Urs. Tonight had been the third evening in a row that he had waited
on his motorcycle in the shadows for someone to come out of the precinct's
door that he could talk to.  Two hours had passed tonight, and no sign of
Tracy or Knight.  He had tried her apartment, but it had been rented out to
someone else.  If she had moved, did that mean that she was also gone from the
city?  She loved her job too much to have left.  Something felt very wrong and
if he had to, he would walk into that precinct and find out for himself.  His
hands impatiently gripped the handlebars as thoughts of his missing child Urs
began to fill his mind.  Where was everyone?  It was a surprise enough to find
out that he had been recovering underground for a year, but the time loss did
not explain where everyone went.  Urs would come back to him, she always did.
When she thought that he had died, she must have taken off to start over in a
new place, but Tracy was too attached to this city to run away.  He had to get
some answers, somewhere.  He could not just sit here night after night waiting
any longer.  Straddling the leather seat, he kick started the engine, just as
a large green Caddy pulled into the parking lot.  Shutting off the motor, he
got off his bike.  For a moment, he stood there like he didn't quite remember
how he got there, but then he moved to intercede Knight.  Nick stared at him
as if he had seen a ghost, and of course, he had.  Vachon seriously enjoyed
the attention until Tracy's partner began to smile.  Supernatural occurrences
still had no lasting effect on him after all that he had seen in several
lifetimes.  So that Vachon had somehow survived Divia's onslaught was
interesting but not impossible, after all hadn't he?  Nevertheless, his days
as a vampire were on temporary suspension, and he had no interest in being
blocked access to his workplace from any members of his past.  Nick tried to
walk around him, but Vachon was too insistent.  Not wanting to cause a scene,
Nick stood still and firmly stared at him.

"Vachon, tell me what's going on?"

"That's funny Knight, cause I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Look, I am glad that you have survived, but this doesn't make us friends.  I
have work to do."

"I'm not looking for friendship either.  I'm looking for Tracy."

Nick froze at the mention of his deceased partner's name.  As the color
drained from his face, he began to feel cold inside.  Next week would mark the
first anniversary of her death.  If Vachon had just regenerated and emerged
from where Tracy had buried him, he was unaware of all that had transpired.
Now that he realized the situation, he tried to act with more sensitivity
before again speaking to Vachon.

"Vachon, Tracy died last year, I am so sorry."

"No," he whispered as he shook his head.  Feeling as if he were trapped in a
bad dream, he moved near the Caddy for support and leaned against it.  "How
did it happen?"

"It was an accident, she was shot.  There would have been nothing that you
could have done to help her."

Vachon slowly nodded while staring blankly at Nick and tried to assimilate
this new troubling revelation in his life.  His eyes left Nick and moved to
the ground as he tried to gather the strength to prepare him for a life
without her naivete, smiles, and caring gestures for him.  Raising one arm, he
raked the fingers of one hand through his long dark hair before returning his
questions to her ex-partner.  "Where is she?  I want to go to her."

"She was buried in a family plot.  I'll take you there if you like."

Again Vachon had no verbal reply, but only nodded in silence.  He thought of
how one of her last acts must have been to bury him near his friend, then
spoke again in disbelief of her passing.  "Did she have me buried next to
Screed?"

A warm sensation of Tracy's deeds filled Nick as he replied with a smile.
"Yes, that was her idea.  She really cared for you.  It was hard for her for a
while after you died, but LaCroix later fixed that.  Her only memory was that
you were a friend and a vampire that needed to move on."

"Thanks Knight.  I didn't want to hurt her.  It's always hard when they die,
isn't it?"

"We never want to hurt them, but we always do.  I know that it never gets
easier to live with their deaths; part of the curse of immortality.  It hurts
that she is gone.  I miss her too."

The sadness between them hung heavy in the air, as the busy activity of the
mortal world of the Precinct hurriedly moved around them.  Then feeling
bewildered, Vachon stared at Nick.  "There's something different about you
Knight."

"It is not important."

Dismissing his confusion, Vachon absentmindedly agreed.  "Yeah, probably not."
With a defeated look, Vachon moved a few steps back towards his parked
motorcycle, but suddenly stopped and turned back.  Nick had already reached
the precinct's back door when Vachon called out after him.

"Wait Knight!"  In a moment, Vachon was back at his side, and the two of them
walked back towards the Caddy.  "Do you know where Urs is?"

Stopping in his tracks, Nick tightly closed his eyes.  He could still remember
seeing her on the floor in his elevator torn to pieces and covered in blood.
She had also been a victim of Divia's ruthlessness.  Vachon had already been
bitten by LaCroix's daughter, and he had not known that Urs had been a target
too.  Nick took in a long breath and released it before opening his eyes to
the waiting vampire.

"She's gone too.  The girl that attacked you went after her as well.  I found
her lifeless body in my elevator the same night that you were viciously
ambushed."

"No, not Urs. Why?  Urs was good.  How could anyone do that to her?"

"The one who did this has been destroyed, but not before she had done
tremendous damage."

"Where are Urs's remains?"

"I brought her to Dr. Lambert.  We tried to figure out what had killed her.
We couldn't understand what had such power."

Vachon stared into the ground, trying to control the pain from all his losses.
The only thing he knew for certain about immortality was that no matter how
many times he had experienced a personal loss, it never got any easier.
First, the news of Tracy and now Urs, he was beginning to wonder if it was so
wonderful to be back after all.  The years had certainly hardened him for he
could not even shed a single tear; it was so hard to believe that she was
gone.  Urs was his daughter and his best friend, how he would miss her
presence.  Her presence, why did he not feel her lack of presence?  In a
sudden outburst of excitement, Vachon returned his gaze to Nick.

"She's not dead!  Don't you see?  If I survived the attack, so could she!  I
need to get to her."

Nick shook his head.  "Wait, you may have survived because of your age.  Urs
was young."

"No, she's alive.  I would have felt it if she were gone.  Take me to her.  I
can help."

Taking in a deep breath, he steadied himself for the next information he was
about to give Vachon.  "I do not know where she is."

The tension was thick in the air between them as Vachon tried to hold back his
frustration, and lower his voice.  "What do you mean you don't know?  You just
told me that you saw her die and so did that doctor friend of yours."

"Yes, but I did not bury her."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know."

Vachon walked a few paces away trying to make sense of the situation, and
trying to figure out what to do next.  Then he approached Nick again.  "Urs
could be stuck underground somewhere, and you can't help me?  Then maybe Dr.
Lambert can."

"She may not be able to help you either."

"Why not?  Did she suddenly turn against us?"

"She does not know about vampires.  It's a long story."

"Which I'm sure that you'll tell me about on the way to her office."  Vachon
jumped into the front passenger side of the Caddy, and leaned over to address
the car's owner.  "Come on Knight, cause I'm not backing away."

Reluctantly, Nick opened the Caddy's door and slid behind the steering wheel.
He was supposed to be mortal now, and that meant no vampire adventures.  He
looked over at his impatient friend, who only gestured for him to drive, so he
started the car.  As he backed out of the parking spot, he thought of how this
was the last thing he wanted to get involved with, more vampire affairs.
However, if Vachon was correct, then they did need to find her.  The drive to
the Coroner's building was quiet except for Vachon's occasional questions
about what it was about his driver that seemed different.  Luckily, Vachon was
too distracted with Urs's fate to realize that the former vampire was now
mortal.  A few times, he tried to explain Nat's amnesia to Vachon without
giving too many other details about that night away, but the young vampire was
too anxious about Urs's whereabouts to concentrate on his words.

Finding a place to park on the street in front of the Morgue, Vachon was up
the steps and by the door before Nick had stepped out onto the sidewalk.
After turning and waiting for Nick to catch up to him, he again noted in
confusion, "You know, there's something different about you."

With patience wearing thin, Nick sighed.  "Just let me take the lead in
there."

Walking the halls of the morgue side by side, they drew some curious stares.
Although Nick was well dressed, Vachon's long unkempt hair, three days of
beard growth, jeans and a leather jacket looked very out of place.  It did not
take them long to arrive at Nat's door.  The way was so ingrained, that Nick
could have found his way there in his sleep.  But now, his yearlong abstinence
from her workplace was beginning to weigh heavily on him as he stared at the
door before him.  How many times had he gone through this door to see her?
Hundreds, maybe thousands of times?  But now the thought of walking into the
next room seemed so foreign, so unnatural.  His concerned thoughts of facing
Nat directly after all this time were shattered as Vachon nudged him.

"I know I've been away for a while, but I think if you push on the door, it
will open."

Without reacting to Vachon's sarcasm, Nick pushed on the door and walked in.
It was then that it felt as if time had stood still.  He saw her as he had so
many times before, sitting at her desk.  As if in a dream, he moved towards
her then stopped as she looked up at them.  In what seemed to be slow motion,
she stood up and captured Nick's gaze like they were the only two in the room.
Everything around them felt unreal to him.  He could have sworn that she
floated towards him, as her intent stare seemed to be not looking at him but
through him.  He could tell that his act of walking through her door had
touched some far away memory that could not be reached.  Neither of them
spoke.  Both looked deeply into the other's eyes as she searched to identify
that feeling that transcended memory.  She tried to connect the past part of a
life that had been left unfilled and wondered if that lost feeling would ever
be recovered.  The world comfortably faded around them with him not daring to
approach her, and her not understanding her desire to reach out to him.  With
his patience rapidly dissipating with their silence, Vachon stepped out from
behind Nick and spoke up.

"You will let me know if I'm intruding?  But I thought we were here to get
some information?"  With their spell broken, Nick watched as Nat struggled to
clear the fog from her thoughts.  Clearing her throat, she felt embarrassed as
she spoke up.  "I'm so sorry.  I've been so distracted lately.  Please forgive
me.  Is there something I can help you with?"

Since Natalie had been looking at him, Vachon spoke first.  "Actually, yes
there is..."  Nick interrupted him by carefully pushing him back.

"We were hoping you could help us locate a body that came through here a
little over a year ago."

Nat smiled.  "Well, I'm sure I can do something to help.  Is this for a case?"

"An old case.  We need to know where the body is for a relative."  Vachon
smiled as Nick gestured to him.

Moving back towards her desk she flipped open the pages to the middle of a
large binder and looked up.  "Well that shouldn't be too difficult.  What did
you say was the name of the deceased?"

Seeing her exploring the pages of the book, he knew that Nat would never have
recorded vampire information in a public place.  In fact, he was fairly
certain that all evidence of Urs's existence had been disposed of.  Such
information would be too dangerous to have around, and she had been very aware
of that.  He moved close to the desk, and closed the binder.

"She would not be in your book."

"What do you mean?  Each body that comes through here is documented.  If she
was in this Morgue, then she is in this book."

"This was a special case, highly confidential."

Feeling as if her ethics were at stake, her words lashed out at Nick.  "Now
listen!  This is a very professionally run office.  There are no cover-ups
here, and to tell you the truth I resent your implications."

Pulling Nick off to the side, Vachon whispered to him.  "You were right, she
really doesn't remember.  Let me whammy her.  I'll get the information."

"No. She has lost too much already."

After speaking privately with Vachon, Nick moved back to Nat who was seething
with anger.  "Dr. Lambert, I am not implying that anything unprofessional or
illegal occurred.  I only know that this did involve special circumstances.
If a name were assigned to her, it would not be her true name.  It is
extremely important that we locate her body.  It is a life or death situation.
Could you tell us where a body would go from here that had no identity?"

"She was a Jane Doe then?"  Moving over to the keyboard of her computer, she
typed in a command.  "What month was she here?"

Shaking his head, he tried to stop her.  "Dr. Lambert, it will not be in there
either."

Feeling out of control, she snapped back at him.  "Let me try!  What month?"

"January 1996."

Typing in the numbers, she looked up.  "I have two Jane Doe's listed.  How old
was she?"

Excited by Nat's findings, Vachon rushed to the other side of the computer and
looked at the monitor.  "In her twenties, and she was blonde and beautiful."

Defeated, Nat looked over at Vachon.  "One woman was a young black woman, the
other was elderly."

Anger took control of Vachon and he turned from the computer and slammed his
fist against the desk.  "She's not in your computer!"

Trying to calm the situation Nick called out, "Vachon!"  Then as the vampire
walked away, Nick turned back to Nat. "Doctor, we need to know where she may
have been buried."

With one distrustful eye still on Vachon, Natalie turned back and tried to
focus on the computer.  Eliciting another command, she reached over to the
printer.  With the freshly printed list in her hand, she turned back and
handed Nick the page.  "These are the public cemeteries where unclaimed bodies
are sent to.  If she was here, then you should find her."

Rushing back to Nick, Vachon pulled the list from his hand and began to walk
towards the door but stopped as Nat called after him.  "Unless she wasn't
buried."

It was almost impossible for him to speak with the sensation of his fangs
emerging through his gums.  He could only manage one word as he turned back
and stared at her.

"What?"

"She will be there unless she was cremated."

With her words, Vachon lost his control and angrily approached her, but Nick
was prepared and came to Nat's rescue.  She had no idea the danger she had
placed herself in by so nonchalantly bringing up such a possibility.  If Nat
had ordered Urs's body cremated, then she would surely be dead.  She was far
too young too rise from the ashes.  Burning her vampire body would have
totally eliminated any chance to regenerate.  After calming Vachon, Nick
carefully approached Nat who looked as if she was about to reach for the
telephone to call security with the slightest provocation.  With tremendous
composure, he attempted to understand.  "Cremated?  Why would a body be
cremated?"

"Well, she may have died of something contagious, or there was a request from
someone, or if the expense of burial was too high at the time."

With all seriousness, he looked into her eyes.  "Dr. Lambert, do you remember
ordering any body to be cremated?"

"Not anyone recently, but I had an accident as you know around that time.  I
don't remember everything that I did before that.  She could have been
cremated, and I would not recall."

Suddenly, he had forgotten why he was there.  She had brought back a time that
had changed their lives.  His heart pined for her as he watched her look at
him and he tenderly smiled.  "Have you recovered from that night?"

"Yes, and we are so grateful to you.  Mr. Knight?  I have wanted to ask you
this for a while.  Will you come to our wedding?  We'll be sending out
invitations soon, but with all that you did for me, I felt I should tell you
in person how important your presence would be."

"I may be working, but thank you for thinking of me."

"Mark and I would not accept no for an answer.  Please give me your word that
you will come."

He swallowed hard.  Why did everyone ask for his word to have him perform the
impossible?  "Yes, I will come if I can.  Will you continue to work after the
wedding?"

"Absolutely, my work is everything to me."

"But you work the late shift, you will be changing that right?"

"No, I have to work at night.  Anyway I always felt drawn to the night."

"Have to?"

"I'm a little uncomfortable talking about it, but since the accident...  Well,
light makes me feel....  I don't know why I am bothering you with my problems.
Really, there is no problem.  Thank you for saying that you will come to the
wedding."

With a crushing realization of what he had brought about, he spoke softly to
her.  "You are bothered by the light."

"Please don't say anything, only Mark knows.  He thinks it is some side effect
from the accident that night you saved me.  I shouldn't have said anything.
And it's really not that bad, just direct sunlight."

His eyes closed tightly in pain and regret, and then he reopened them to her
as he whispered his words.  "I'm sorry.  I am so sorry."

With a short laugh and a big smile, she moved closer to him.  "You make it
sound like it is your fault.  You have nothing to be sorry for.  You saved my
life and I will always be grateful."

He looked into her trusting eyes, the same eyes that had faithfully looked
back at him the night he had bitten her.  Guilt threatened to crush his soul.
LaCroix had brought back her mortality, but at what expense?  She was still
condemned to a life of darkness.  As he was free to stroll during the daylight
hours, she shunned them.  Traces of the vampire that he had infected her with
still remained.  He was certain that there were more traits that she had
acquired, but there was nothing he could do.

"I will hold in confidence all that you have told me here."

"Thank you," she whispered and gazed back at him as she tenderly smiled.
There was something about this man who stood before her, something that made
her feel complete.  She hated herself for even thinking such thoughts only a
few weeks before her wedding date, but her eyes could not leave his.  She felt
herself sinking deeper and deeper into his gaze, and it almost frightened her.
Here he was almost a stranger to her, yet she felt as if she had known him all
her life.  A part of her had changed when he walked into the room only fifteen
minutes ago.  Before he arrived, she was sure that she was the luckiest woman
in the world to have been marrying Mark.  Now she felt as if the commitment
she had given to him was a prison term.  This was so ridiculous.  How could
she feel so close and intimate with a person she hardly knew?  It must be a
result of her long working hours, or maybe she was experiencing cold feet at
the wedding prospects.  This had to be a fluke, but she refused to release her
eyes from his gaze.

Vachon leaned against the green tiles of the lab and watched them gazing into
each other's eyes.  They were so obviously in love, but they reacted so
detached from each other.  What they said with their eyes, even from his
vantage point across the room was so vastly different from what they spoke.
They talked as if they hardly knew one another, but all other parts of their
bodies said something else.  So, what if Dr. Lambert had lost her memory,
Knight should just tell her what they were to each other.  Why would he let
her marry another when it was so clear how they both felt?  Okay, so vampires
and mortals don't mix well, but they could at least have what they had before
she forgot everything.  He closed his eyes and listened to the softly beating
hearts in the room, then immediately both eyelids popped open again.  It
couldn't be.  How could he hear two mortal hearts with one mortal and two
vampires?  He smiled.  Unless the stiff on the slab was about to rise from the
dead, the other heartbeat was Knight's.  Knight was mortal!  That was what the
difference was in him.  'Damn' he cursed himself for being so slow, but then
eight hundred-year-old vampires becoming mortal does not happen everyday.

Vachon lifted his shoulder from the wall as he straightened himself and moved
towards Nick.  "Knight.  I know what's different about you.  I can hear
your..."  Knowing what was about to come out of Vachon's mouth, Nick rapidly
turned his head towards the vampire and glared at him to remain quiet.  After
watching Vachon's smirk and quiet retreat, Nick looked back to Nat.

"We have to leave now.  Thank you Dr. Lambert for all your help."

With only a few steps, Nick caught up to Vachon and almost pushed him through
the door and out into the hall.  Once in the hall it was clear that Nick did
not feel like talking as he pushed past Vachon without a word and quickened
his pace so as to cause Vachon to almost run to keep up with him.

"What's going on here Knight?  You're a mortal.  I heard your heart beating as
loudly as I heard hers."

Angrily Nick stopped, and it took all of Vachon's vampire skills not to
collide into him.  "Yes!  I am mortal, and nothing is going on here!"

"Nothing huh?  Did that demon child do this to you, the one that got me and
Urs?"

"No, Listen Vachon, I have already done more than I should have.  Now you have
the list, so go and find Urs."

"I will, I will, but you have to help me."

"You do not need my help, you have the list.  She is buried in one of those
cemeteries."

"Unless your 'friend' in there had her cremated."

"Well if she did, I still cannot help you."

Vachon held up the list to Nick.  "There must be fifty cemeteries on this
list, and Urs could be buried alive in any one of them.  There is only so much
I can do during the night hours, if you catch my drift?"

Looking at the long list of printed names, Nick sighed.  "You want me to
search during the day.  I'll do what I can."

Placing an arm over Nick's shoulders, Vachon grinned.  "You know Knight, I
could help you out of this predicament?"

"I wouldn't suggest trying it Vachon.  LaCroix already has designs on my
mortal soul.  You'll have to wait your turn."

Backing away like Nick was a wooden stake covered in garlic, Vachon stuffed
the paper into his pocket.  "Well, in that case, I have some searching I
should get to.  I left my bike at the precinct, you do think it will be safe
there?"  He smiled as they walked out the door together.  Seeing the Caddy
before him, Nick walked to the car as Vachon moved towards the back of the
building presumably to find a place to take off from.  Although he did not see
Vachon leave, he was sure he was half way to the first name on the list Nat
had given them, before he had time to start the Caddy's engine.

                                   --------

Nat was still staring at the door several minutes after Nick and his friend
had left.  Why did she feel so right in Knight's presence?  Why did she feel
closer to him then the man she was about to marry?  Feelings and emotions had
stirred inside her when he had walked through her door.  Instinct not memories
attracted her to him.  It was very apparent that Mark did not make her feel
this way, that was without doubt.  But she loved Mark; he had helped her to
get well, and had stayed by her side night and day.  He cared for her, and he
was a good man.  Freeing her stare of the door, she crossed the room and sat
wearily at her desk.  She was mentally listing Mark's attributes.  Why was she
trying to convince herself that she must be in love with him?  Of course, she
loved Mark; any woman would be out of her mind not to love him.  He was
intelligent, kind, and very handsome.  She stopped herself; she was again
listing reasons to herself to be in love with him.  It was only a bad case of
nerves that was making her forget all that he had done for her.  Mr. Knight's
nearness had only reminded her of that terrible time and that had caused her
to forget how much Mark meant to her.  But she had so easily confided her
secret about shunning the light, a concealed fact that she had not disclosed
to anyone but Mark.  And even he had only come to know of her affliction when
he had finally seen the correlation between their dating schedule and the dark
hours.  It was when he confronted her about his observation that she had
confessed to him her mysterious needs, but even this was done in hesitation.
To this day, she had regretted telling him, and if he hadn't already seemed to
know, she would never have shared that information with him.  Mark made her
feel strange when her light limitations showed up.  He would ask her so many
questions every time she experienced any discomfort, that she would think
herself to be one his subjects from his experiments.  But he did not know that
his endless observations of her were upsetting.  He was only trying to help
her.  Somehow, his way of help always made her feel like a freak of nature.
Like the way he would always need another batch of tubes of blood from her,
and that he would always make sure that they were alone to draw the blood in
his lab.  It was becoming a strange ritual that each and every date would end
with Mark withdrawing another tube from her so that he could help her with her
problem.  She had once kidded him about how most guys end a date with a good
night kiss, but he still brought a syringe and needle on each of their
encounters.  Okay, so he wasn't the most romantic man around, but he did care.
Yes, everything that Mark did was with her best interest in mind.  She laughed
to herself.  She really was having a bad case of cold feet.  Her wedding day
would soon be here; the thought made her involuntarily shudder.  Taking in a
deep breath, she tried to act strong, not frightened.  Everything would be
fine as soon as she calmed herself and then settled into a life of wedded
bliss.  Her thoughts then drifted back to the man she had just shared her most
intimate secret with.  She could not forget his eyes; they seemed to be
endless pools of emotions.  They captivated her still, they seemed to be
telling her something, something that she felt she already knew but just
couldn't remember.  It was as if his soul reached out to her through his gaze,
and she felt that if she could go beyond the surface she would understand the
timeless story of humanities pain and pleasures.  There was something so
ancient and yet so new that shown in those eyes.  She shook her head and tried
to blink away the picture of him from her mind.  It was only a strange trick
of the late hour that made her feel these things of this man.  Anyway, it was
the other, the one he called Vachon that made the hair on the back of her neck
stand on end.  There was something unduly intimate, too personal that he
touched inside her.  The sensation from him bothered her.  With his close
proximity came the sensation of pins and needles over every inch of her skin.
A near painful tingling consumed her, as if every nerve ending was on alert.
It was very uncomfortable, and she hoped that she would never need to be in
the same room as him again.  Yet even though he made her feel tense, there was
also something beyond the physical sensation that was familiar.  There was
something soothing about the intense sensation that he evoked; it made her
feel as if she were a part of him.  She replayed her last few thoughts in her
mind, then shook her head.  These thoughts had to stop.  It had been an
exhausting night, and it was obvious that she needed rest.  This was all too
much excitement for a woman who was about to be married.  Suddenly, she
awakened from her daydreams with a sound from across the room, and
involuntarily gasped as Mark walked towards her.  She had been so engrossed in
thought that she had not noticed him entering the Morgue.

"Feeling jumpy tonight Natalie?"

"No, I was just thinking."

"About us?  That seems to be the only thing I think about lately."  He smiled
as he moved to her desk and pulled her up and into his arms.

"Yes I was thinking about us, about the wedding.  In fact, I just saw Mr.
Knight and personally invited him to the wedding.  That is what you wanted
right?"

"I only want what is best for you.  I want to make you happy.  You never have
to worry Natalie, whatever happens we'll be together."

Everything seemed to be going well until he had said the part about being
together no matter what happens.  Those few words hurt her; they made her
angry though she didn't know why.  Pulling away from his embrace, she reacted
to the innocent expression of his love.

"Why did you say that?"

Confusion mixed with the surprise of her actions, and he tried to remember
what he had said that had upset her.  "Please Natalie.  I love you.  Don't be
upset."

Seeing that her strange response had hurt him, she rushed back into his arms
and held him tightly.  Why did his words anger and frighten her so?  The words
were sweet, but his voice was not how she had remembered them being said
before.  Someone had said the same words to her before, and that person had
lied.  Those words were a declaration of betrayal.  If only all these pieces
could come back to her.  Who had said this to her before, and why?  The more
she racked her brain the less it all made sense, but she continued until her
head ached.  Maybe this was all from a past life.  She only knew that
somewhere she had heard those words before, and she had given all that she had
to give, only to be deceived.  Mark pulled back to look at her, but still held
her around her waist.

"Was the visit from Mr. Knight that traumatic?"

"No, he was very pleasant.  He needed information on an old case.  I don't
think I was much help to him, but it did give me a good chance to invite him."

"What case Natalie?"

"Just some Jane Doe, but I couldn't help."

"Why not?"

"There was no record of her.  It was before my accident.  It must have had
some top security clearance."

"There was no record of a body that came through here?  Isn't that highly
irregular?"

"I would have thought that it was impossible, but they seemed to think that
she was brought here."

"They?  I thought you saw only Knight."

"He had a relative or something of the deceased.  Why are you so interested?"

"I don't know, it just sounded strange that there would be no records.  So
what did you tell them?"

"Well, the only thing I could do was to give them a list of places that the
city might have buried her in.  Boy, you should have seen the reaction the
other one had when I told them it was possible that she might have been
cremated.  I mean if she meant so much to him where was he when her body sat
unidentified?  You would have thought that I killed her."

Looking off almost lost in thought he murmured, "Maybe you did kill her?"
Then breaking out of his fog, he tried to recover.  "I mean killed her in a
way.  Some families only accept a proper burial."

"Well, I think that over a year is a little too late to be blaming others."

"This happened over a year ago?"

"We were looking in the files of January of 1996."

"Did they have a name for her?"

"No, I only heard that she was young and blonde and beautiful, but maybe her
last name was Vachon.  I heard Mr. Knight call him that, but it could have
been his first name too.  Vachon...  Isn't that a beautiful foreign sounding
name?"

Repeating the name as if to memorize it, he acknowledged Natalie's comment.
"Vachon, yes a very nice name.  Probably not too many people around here with
that name."

Pulling away from him playfully, she smiled.  "So are you through
interrogating me?"

"I'm sorry Natalie, I was just curious.  Not everyday do you get visitors
asking about a Jane Doe from over a year ago.  Guess I should have been a
detective with all my questions."  Walking over to the file cabinet, he opened
a drawer and picked out a form before re-closing the cabinet.  "I need some
paper to write down a few notes, can I use this?"  Folding the paper
carefully, he placed it inside his jacket pocket.

"Those are just blank forms, why don't you use some of the paper on my desk?
Never mind that should work just fine.  Forgive me Mark, I shouldn't have been
so touchy about your questions.  I think we are looking for distractions with
all the stress from the wedding coming up so fast."

"I'm sure you're right Natalie.  So what else did Mr. Knight have to say?"

"Nothing Mark.  Why are you always so interested in him?  Are you jealous?"

"No, I mean he must have asked you about your health?"

"Yes, he was concerned."

"And?"

"And I told him that I was fine and that...was...it!"

"And are you fine Natalie?"

"Yes I am, despite all your overprotection.  Are you fine?"

Pulling her back into his arms, he kissed her passionately.  Then held her
tightly against him as he whispered in her ear.  "You know that as long as you
are near me, I'm fine.  I'll never leave you, Natalie."

Again she became bombarded with helplessness at his words, and felt faint.
Now she was positive that she had heard someone else say I'll never leave you
to her.  Her brain was taking her down paths that only led to dead ends.
Words that she knew meant everything transformed into words that meant
nothing.  One day she would remember, and on that day all the flashes of
memories would unite and bring back to her the life she had lost.  She
snuggled against Mark, being next to him felt safe, but always something felt
as if it were missing.  When her memories would return, she could be with him
fully.  He deserved that.  As she enjoyed Mark's loving security, a bit of
guilt plagued her.  She had not mentioned to Mark that she had told Mr. Knight
about her problem with the light.  She knew that it was better to not tell him
too much, Mark was always so overly cautious when he was around Mr. Knight.
And too many times Nick Knight's name had found their way into their
conversations, it almost seemed as if he were obsessed with him.  Rumors
around the precinct of her and Nick Knight being more than friends undoubtedly
upset Mark.  However, he was the man she was going to marry.  She hardly knew
who Nick Knight was.  As long as Mark acted this concerned about Mr. Knight,
there was no reason to fuel the fire.  If she would tell, Mark now that she
had divulged a secret that only the two of them had shared, it would only make
matters worse.  This whole situation was interesting, Nick Knight was
interesting.  She held Mark in her arms, but in her mind, she held the picture
of Nick Knight's deep eternal eyes.
 

End Part Four

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